Leo Loomans is a graduate of The National Art School sculpture department from the late 1980’s. His work is a living extension of that tradition. His work employs the values promoted at the school. His unique experience brings life to that voice.
Of the staff Leo encountered at the school, Ian McKay had the greatest influence. Ian was determined the innate qualities in the raw material provided a sculptural language to generate the deepest meaning. Leaving oneself out of the picture ironically provided the best opportunities for expression. Be open, be surprised, be prepared to have your expectations and desires upended. One’s voice came from without.
Leo’s curiosity about an alternative position is necessarily absent, to bring strength to that position. His alertness, excitability and sensitivity could find no better application.
Leo, without intending to be or desires to be, is pure Sydney School of Sculpture.
His work is rough and unglamorous. It is both funny and serious. It is modest, in scale and intent. It catches and a-braids the landscape’s light. It is thorny and sings more crow than swallow.
Leo is alive, or ‘alert’ to opportunities as they arise. Out of chaos harmony rises supreme.
Leo’s commitment and focus is second to none. His life is a privilege of sculpture without the distractions of ease, comfort and mediocrity. He is an old-fashioned artist. The notion of ‘garret’ was deemed quaint and irrelevant in the age of ‘an informed and sophisticated art audience’. This is where Leo lives.
Having taught Leo for several years at The National Art School, I am afraid to say I left no mark on his practice.
It remains to be seen whether the purity of Leo’s approach was the ultimately more fruitful path or whether my agnosticism opened other opportunities.
The Sydney School of Sculpture is good when exponents are loyal to its principles.
As Ian was fond of repeating, ‘sculpture is slow’. It moves beyond the needs and desires of individuals.
Leo seemed forever at the beginning of something but suddenly we are witnessing a sculptor with a voice and maturity worthy of attention. His upcoming exhibition at The Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra is timely and well deserved.
‘Cooperative Atmospheres’ Leo Loomans
‘Culture Traps’ 2022 Leo Loomans